Changes large and small are coming to Capitol Hill’s two public elementary schools as Seattle Public Schools maneuvers to deal with a steady increase of kids in the city. Shrinking the enrollment area of Stevens Elementary was one of the proposed changes SPS rolled-out Tuesday to deal with overcrowding at the 18th and Galer campus — more on that below.
Current Washington Middle School boundaries
New boundaries proposal
Before the start of the school year, Stevens faced enough of a potential overcrowding situation that the school considered adding a portable classroom. That didn’t happen, but at the beginning of this school year Stevens’s three kindergarten classes were all over-enrolled with 30 students in each class.
Responding to pleas from teachers and parents, SPS officials tell CHS they will be adding a fourth Stevens kindergarten class in the coming weeks made up of students from the three current classes, according to SPS spokesperson Teresa Wippel. While SPS searches for a new teacher, the school has hired a substitute teacher to take students out of kindergarten classes for individualized instruction.
Meanwhile at Capitol Hill’s Lowell Elementary, enrollment is wide open. Wippel said that’s due in part to the schools Accelerated Progress Program moving out in 2011.
“When the APP program moved to Lincoln, it took a large number of students out of Lowell,” Wipple said via email to CHS. “So now we’re modifying that boundary along with a few other boundary changes in that area to balance out enrollment.”
Those proposed boundary changes were officially rolled out Tuesday to the Seattle School Board during its regularly scheduled meeting. The new boundaries, which would be phased starting next school year, address the growing population for elementary and middle schools. According to SPS, enrollment in Seattle schools has increased by about 5,000 students since 2009-10, to a projected 51,000 students in 2013-14. Enrollment is projected to reach 60,000 students in 2020.
With the opening of a Capitol Hill middle school at the Meany campus in 2017, the new boundaries would solidify plans to move students into the new middle school. Students from Stevens and Lowell would join those from Gatzert, Madrona (K-8), McGilvra, and Montlake in the new Meany Middle School. Currently, students from those schools all feed into Washington Middle School in the Central District.
To address the crowded classrooms at Stevens, SPS also proposed to lop off of the school’s enrollment area south of Madison. Students who live between 15th and 19th down to Cherry would be split between Lowell and Madrona.
SPS has scheduled the following community meetings to take public comment on the proposed boundary changes:
| When | Where |
|---|---|
| September 23, 6:30–8 p.m. | Mercer Middle School Lunchroom 1600 South Columbian Way (Spanish, Somali, Vietnamese and Taglog interpreters) |
| September 24, 6:30–8 p.m. | Nathan Hale High School Commons 10750 30th Avenue NE (Spanish and Somali interpreters) |
| September 25, 6:30–8 p.m. | West Seattle High School Commons 3000 California Ave SW (Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese interpreters) |
| September 30, 6:30–8 p.m. | Meany Building Lunchroom 300 20th Ave E (Spanish, Somali and Vietnamese interpreters) |
| October 1, 6:30–8 p.m. | Ballard High School Commons 1418 NW 65th Street (Spanish interpreter) |
I think it is great that families can now send their children to schools closer to their homes. It shows that there is still a huge desire to attend public school if the neighborhood can remain intact. I am curious why the schoold district doesn’t consider TOPS as a possible remedy to the overcrowding in the capitol hill schools it is currently a k-8 school right in the middle of Capital hill/ South Lake Union area.
TOPS is an option school….meaning that children from all the reference areas can attend regardless of where they live. It is a very popular school and full.
Some of the kids in the 90+ kindergarten cohort at Stevens this year do not live in the existing Stevens boundary. They were let in off the wait list by the district even though doing so caused the school to add a 4th K class. If we’re going to have boundaries, it would be nice for them to actually be adhered to so we could have a true sense of enrollment numbers before we go about making boundary changes.
Are you sure that this is true? If so it really distorts the situation.
I think that you made a mistake here: Students who live between 15th and 19th down to Cherry would be split between Lowell and Madrona. You mean the students west of 19th between Madison and Cherry would be assigned to Lowell. Those east of 19th would attend Madrona or you meant the students between 15th and 23rd will be split…
The Boundaries were rolled out during a work session. Regular School Board meetings are on Wednesdays,
[…] transition plan criticized: The discussion of new growth boundaries and the plan to re-open Meany Middle school on Capitol Hill has opened a new can of worms for the district. An interim proposal to funnel kids […]
[…] The latest process to adjust Seattle Public Schools’ borders kicked into high gear over summer and continues this with meetings and a formal SPS survey to finalize feedback on the next adjustments — CHS documented the preliminary boundary proposals here: Proposed Capitol Hill elementary school ‘border’ shifts address more kids, new middle school in …. […]